Monday, May 30, 2005

Memorial Cup: Knights ride to victory

After a week of great games, yesterday's Memorial Cup final was quite the disappointment as the London Knights defeated the Rimouski Oceanic quite easily in a 4-0 whitewashing.

What was billed to be a Crosby vs. Perry battle turned out to be the Danny Fritsche show as he scored a goal and two assists and was a buzzsaw around the net all night. London pounced on the Oceanic early and never let up. The game was basically over when it started, and the action on the ice didn't live up to the previous games in the tournament. It was rather anti-climatic.

This was the first time I've ever seen Sidney Crosby shut down completely. Apart from two penalties he took out of frustration, Sid the Kid was hard to notice on the ice.

"HA! Sidney is a choker!" (childish fans across Canada)

Hogwash! Wayne Gretzky never scored in every game and neither will Crosby. Crosby has played in enough BIG games in his young career and done a great job in most of them. It's quite foolish to put the 'Choker' label on a kid who just happens to get outplayed in one game.

Let's give credit to the Knights for their amazing defensive effort against Crosby and the Oceanic's top line. As expected, the 'depth' players on Rimouski contributed nothing while London's depth played a big role in their victory.

Finally, there is no doubt that the London Knights have had the best total season in the history of the CHL.

Regular Season: 59-7-2OHL Playoffs: 16-2Memorial Cup: 4-0

Just like Team Canada at the 2005 World Junior Championships, the London Knights were like men amongst boys. Dale Hunter did a masterful job turning the Knights into a success on and off the ice, and he created a monster that nobody could stop.